London Paddington
by Fafsernir
Summary: If Jack could stick one up Torchwood One while having a gorgeous man asleep against him, he would do it.


_HI. I'm not dead in this fandom. Not yet. (I still have unposted fics, to be honest, but it's long to edit and post, I'm a lazy person)_

 _I got an ask on Tumblr for "Prompt: you fell asleep on my shoulder on the train and I needed to get off about 10 stops ago but I didn't want to nudge you awake because it looked like you really needed some rest. Anyways, this is the last stop and I need to hurry and catch the next train back to make it to work on time." and went with Torchwood, because... Because._

 _It's set before Torchwood starts, and when Ianto is starting at Torchwood One, don't ask me why I went for that period, I have no idea. I'm trying to get back to the Torchwood fandom slowly, so I thought I'd write a little something after all this time!_

* * *

Jack rarely ever cared about being on time at his appointments. If the world wasn't ending, then it could wait. He rarely ever cared about diplomatic meetings, actually. He didn't really give a fuck about Torchwood in London, to be honest. He had convinced a couple of his predecessors to limit their contact, until he had been at the head of Torchwood Three, and decided to entirely dissociate the two branches. The fact that it deeply annoyed everyone at Torchwood One was just extra bonus.

So, yes, he was already – reasonably – late, but as his stop was announced as the next, he couldn't move. Well, of course he could, but some guy had fallen asleep next to him, and was now completely leaning on him in his sleep. Usually, Jack wouldn't hesitate to wake the person up, flirt for a second, then leave. Or find a quiet, hidden spot, have a quickie, then leave. But he had looked at the young man – he was maybe 20, 22 years old – during their journey and, apart from noticing the cute subtle beard he was trying to pull off and his too big and not ironed shirt, Jack had seen how tired he seemed to feel. He looked like he hadn't slept in a long time, if at all in his life, and for some reason, Jack felt for him. He reminded him of himself, back when he had started at the Time Agency. Back when sleep could still be a real problem. Not as much as for 21st century humans, but after some long days, Jack couldn't stand up, and he could only work thanks to drugs they gave them. More than once, even the effect of the drugs hadn't worked, and he had felt the real exhaustion a few times, only able to take one step towards his bed and fall into unconsciousness.

The man next to him looked like that. Especially because he was so young. Was he also exhausted because of work? Was he already working? Maybe he was at University. He should definitely take a nap sometimes.

So Jack wasn't moving, because he didn't want to wake him up. He wasn't snoring, wasn't making a noise or drooling or anyone's clothes and he actually looked adorable while sleeping.

And, Jack had to admit, if he could stick one up Torchwood One while having a gorgeous man asleep against him, he would do it. Let Hartman get angry. He loved annoying them. Nobody was waiting for him after anyway.

* * *

Ianto had regretted his trip to his sister's more quickly than ever before. She had insisted way too much, his mother had insisted way too much, even David had insisted, so he had spent the weekend with them for Mica's birthday. Never mind that he hadn't slept for two days before. Never mind all the paperwork he had to file by Monday. No, it was much better to celebrate the birthday of his niece, who would probably not even remember it. Why had he even accepted, it was a mystery.

He knew why. Because Torchwood.

He had started working for them not even a month earlier, and it was Hell. He had been rather laid back at University, so the opportunity to make money had seemed good enough. There was a catch, there always was. Torchwood didn't care whether or not you were ready for aliens. Torchwood wanted competent employees. Ianto hadn't even flinched when he had been officially told that aliens were real – the whole thing had seriously just been hilarious – but for once in his life, he liked what he was doing. So he wanted to know more about everything and he had been reading _a lot_ about anything he could lay his hands on in Torchwood, which had led to sleepless nights. Add to that what he actually had to do for the job – which wasn't that hard or long – and he had been prone to insomnia a lot lately. The train was quiet, and Ianto didn't fight a lot, falling asleep quickly.

When he woke up, he wasn't sure where he was. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept, and he couldn't even remember what he had been doing before. When he felt a shoulder under him, he panicked, straightening quickly. For a moment, he thought he was still at Uni, especially when he met the eyes of someone he didn't know. The fact that it was a man didn't surprise him, it wouldn't be his first hangover waking next to a man.

"Hi there," the man grinned, and Ianto instantly returned the smile.

Then he saw the window, and remembered he was in a train and working for Torchwood – not in his own or someone else's room, not supposed to be in class, and not even hungover. It felt reassuring for a second, during which he started rubbing his eyes, until he realised that he still had slept on a stranger's shoulder and that he had no idea where he was now.

"Shit, I'm so sorry," he muttered to the man, then looked at his watch. "Are you supposed to get out here?"

"I was supposed to leave at Paddington," the man answered.

"Okay," Ianto nodded. A second passed. Ianto suddenly stared in shock at the man. "Supposed to?! That's the last stop! Where are we?!"

"Back at Reading. Well, we'll be there in about a minute. You should probably go out too, I don't think you have tickets either and our luck will run out soon."

"Fuck," Ianto exclaimed, checking his phone. He had no missing calls, for now. "Why didn't you wake me up?!"

The grin the man seemed to have been born in vanished. "Hey don't blame me, I'm late too. I can pay you the ticket to London if you want."

"I don't want you to pay, ugh," Ianto sighed, closing his eyes.

"Well, looks like you're cute _and_ have a strong temperament. Can't say I'm not enjoying this."

Ianto chose not to answer, but his eyes probably did the job for him. Something among the line of "I can't believe you're saying those words." The other man laughed.

"I didn't catch your name?" he said as Ianto started to get up when he saw they were near the station.

"That's because I didn't say it," Ianto shrugged, getting out of the train and almost running to buy a new ticket and to go on the right platform.

He saw the other man following his steps, but he seemed to have understood that Ianto wasn't much in the mood to talk to a stranger, as he kept his distance and didn't go in the same coach when the train finally arrived. When he was seated in the right train, Ianto briefly wondered if he hadn't been too mean to the guy, but upon realising that he had flirted with him, had probably watched him sleep and had missed his station just because Ianto was sleeping on him – how had nobody realized that they still were in the train? Had the man paid for a ticket back or something? – Ianto felt a bit better. The guy was probably a creep, no need worry about his feelings too much. And he was definitely way too late, so he quickly forgot about him anyway.


End file.
